Written on Tuesday 2nd of February at 8:27 pm
After leaving Hong Kong we arrived at Osaka/Kansai airport in the late afternoon. Osaka time is ahead of Hong Kong’s by 1 hour so a total 4 hours was gone in the air. Going through customs and baggage collection made us realise that this was not an international-friendly place as none of the staff spoke any English. My dad tried miming to a counter lady when he was trying to buy an ice tea.
He looked like an Egyptian hieroglyphic.
For this trip the family was booked onto a tour bus. The tour guide explained that there wasn’t going to be any sight-seeing today as the sun sets at around 5 in the winter. I didn’t mind since I just wanted to relax at the hotel. As the bus drove along the highway I didn’t see anything particularly interesting. Then I’m pretty sure I heard the guide say that Osaka is "famous for nothing". He tried to justify what he said by adding that holidays are about who you spend it with. Hmm...
We arrived at our hotel in Wakayama in 2 hours. We checked in and found that, like before no-one spoke any English, put our kimonos on and then had dinner.
Japanese food is always too something. Too sour, too salty, too sweet, or too bland. Put those extremes onto one tray though and it’s a bloody good feed.
After dinner my dad made my brother and I go to the community bath area which meant being in a space full of other naked, bathing men. For the first time in my life being glasses-wearer became a benefit. I just popped them off and every head had blurry face.
Soaking in the pool heated to about 40°C was very relaxing. They also had a space for you to shower sitting down which was more comfortable than standing. I must of spent an hour scrubbing. I could see what the tour guide meant when he said the Japanese enjoyed bathing. They did it right.
Tomorrow the tour begins.
After leaving Hong Kong we arrived at Osaka/Kansai airport in the late afternoon. Osaka time is ahead of Hong Kong’s by 1 hour so a total 4 hours was gone in the air. Going through customs and baggage collection made us realise that this was not an international-friendly place as none of the staff spoke any English. My dad tried miming to a counter lady when he was trying to buy an ice tea.
He looked like an Egyptian hieroglyphic.
For this trip the family was booked onto a tour bus. The tour guide explained that there wasn’t going to be any sight-seeing today as the sun sets at around 5 in the winter. I didn’t mind since I just wanted to relax at the hotel. As the bus drove along the highway I didn’t see anything particularly interesting. Then I’m pretty sure I heard the guide say that Osaka is "famous for nothing". He tried to justify what he said by adding that holidays are about who you spend it with. Hmm...
We arrived at our hotel in Wakayama in 2 hours. We checked in and found that, like before no-one spoke any English, put our kimonos on and then had dinner.
Japanese food is always too something. Too sour, too salty, too sweet, or too bland. Put those extremes onto one tray though and it’s a bloody good feed.
After dinner my dad made my brother and I go to the community bath area which meant being in a space full of other naked, bathing men. For the first time in my life being glasses-wearer became a benefit. I just popped them off and every head had blurry face.
Soaking in the pool heated to about 40°C was very relaxing. They also had a space for you to shower sitting down which was more comfortable than standing. I must of spent an hour scrubbing. I could see what the tour guide meant when he said the Japanese enjoyed bathing. They did it right.
Tomorrow the tour begins.
